KBR loses $1.8 billion NASA contract challenge to Ascend JV
Gettyimages.com/Bo Zaunders
By
Nick Wakeman
KBR challenged the award twice, but the Government Accountability Office upholds NASA's choice of the the Amentum-Aerodyne joint venture.
KBR has lost its challenge of a $1.8 billion NASA contract that went to a competitor.
The company was the incumbent on the contract known as COSMOS to support command-and-control systems for space vehicles involved in programs such as Orion, Space Launch System, the International Space Station, the Commercial Crew Program and Artemis.
Ascend Aerospace and Technology, a joint venture, won the contract in September. KBR quickly filed a protest, which led NASA to take corrective action. NASA said it would review its evaluations and make a new best-value determination.
For a second time, Ascend won the contract and KBR again filed a new protest in early December challenging the award.
The Government Accountability Office denied KBR’s protest on Tuesday. GAO has not released a public version of its decision.
Officials at each company involved have not responded to a request for comment.
COSMOS is an acronym for Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission and Operations and Systems. The new award replaces the Mission Systems Operations Contract, which KBR has held since its 2018 acquisition of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies.
SGT won the contract in 2017. KBR has been awarded roughly $1 billion in order volume from the MSOC since 2018, according to GovTribe data.
GAO's decision clears the way for Ascend to begin working on the contract. Ascend is joint venture of Amentum and Aerodyne Industries, which is a service-disabled/veteran-owned small business. The JV is also part of the Small Business Administration’s mentor-protégé program.
Ascend will support the Johnson Space Center's human spaceflight operations that include systems engineering, research and development, mission operations, IT and technical services. This work supports NASA's crew health, biomedical research and space exploration initiatives.
COSMOS has a five-year base and two two-year options.
Ascend has set up a transition webpage where it is recruiting incumbent personnel to join their team.